A listing of all my many adventures and misadventures in this passion that has overtaken me since I was 25 years old... knitting.

Sunday, November 30, 2003

Ripping Back

For those of you who take joy in the mistakes of an experienced knitter, I offer you today's blog entry.

Ronas HillFor some reason, I don't seem to be able to make it past armhole shaping on Fair Isles without a mistake.

I was knitting along happily on Ronas Hill and was all ready to report another completed pattern repeat. Then I realized I had to rip out about 10 rows and reknit them correctly.

Damn it! I should have known better. Now that I'm shaping for the armholes, the pattern starts at a different place after the first armhole steek. On one of the rows, I figured out where I should start in the pattern, and after knitting the first two repeats, I was curious as to why one of the stitches seemed off by one and then corrected two stitches later.

Stupidly, I just figured I had made a minor mistake, but the remainder of the row was like that.

Then a few rows later, I got even more suspicious when I realized that the end of each round was finishing before the middle of the pattern repeat instead of towards the end. Now I realized I had made a mistake, but I thought I might be able to continue without it being noticeable.

What was I thinking?!?!

Ripping out Fair Isle sucks.

Suffice it to say, I'm back to where I was and I have, in fact, finished another pattern repeat.

Now I'm being much more cognizant of little clues that show me my mistakes instead of going into denial.

Flea Market FindsThe last couple of weekends have been good for flea market finds for both me and Thaddeus.

I found these two books, both of which I like very much:

The one on the left is all about making one piece knitted projects. I like the concept and I'm glad to have a simple, basic design book. The patterns are hideous (from the 70's), but the basic design ideas I can get a lot of use out of.

The one on the right is a crochet book from the 40's. It shows some really bad and some really good ideas. I'll include a few pictures from both books over the course of the next few weeks.

Thaddeus has also been able to supplement his mushroom collection.

These two big ceramic mushrooms we both liked a lot.

He's also found some additional little ones to add to the collection.

Readers Comments/QuestionsI knew I was preaching to the choir with my rant on gay marriages, but it's nice to confirm the kind of support I have from my readers on this issue.

Charlotte mentions that straight singles that don't marry have many of the same issues.

That is an excellent point for all unmarried folks (whether by choice or by law). Make sure you have as many of the legal protections as you can get for things like wills, powers of attorney, living wills, etc.

Alice asks if Thaddeus and I have some of those legal documents, and we do.

Homosexuals don't pay additional taxes just because they are homosexual. It's the inability to marry that makes inheritance taxes much higher. If Meg's husband were to die, she'd get everything in "their" estate without having to pay taxes on it, because they are jointly owned. Since Thaddeus and I can't marry legally, the inheritance on all things passed from one of us to the other is completely taxable.